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Environmental change, bog history and human impact around 2900 b.c. in NW Germany–preliminary results from a dendroecological study of a sub-fossil pine woodland at Campemoor, Dümmer Basin

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Abstract

This paper presents a detailed dendroecological analysis of remains from a sub-fossil pine forest at the Campemoor in the Dümmer basin, NW Germany and of pine timbers from a contemporaneous Neolithic trackway Pr 32 through the Campemoor. Changes in growth pattern and population dynamics of the pines are discussed in context with the time of construction of the trackway. The findings date to the period around 3000 b.c. Together with palaeobotanical investigations (pollen and macro remains) and the archaeological results (trackway) the dendroecological analysis mirrors environmental changes and the response of people to these changes. In order to test this local development for a possible climate background, ring-width variability and population dynamics of the Campemoor pines and of the overall data set of Lower Saxonian sub-fossil oaks from bogs have been compared. The results of these investigations clearly indicate a common widespread turn from drier to more humid climate conditions as trigger for the transition period, initiating the raised bog growth. It happened in two phases at the beginning of the 3rd millennium, interrupted by a drier period between 2825 and 2770 b.c. Afterwards large areas of former settlement sites within today's Campemoor became inaccessible and were covered by raised bog.

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Acknowledgements

This publication is dedicated to Hans-Jürgen Beug on the occasion of his 75th birthday.

The dendroecological analysis is part of an ongoing research project, aiming at extended investigations on sub-fossil bog pines in Lower Saxony. It is funded by the German Research Foundation (LE 1805/2-1). The archaeological and palaeobotanical studies have been carried out in the frame of an interdisciplinary research project funded by the German Environmental Foundation (DBU, AZ 21514). The field work at site Campemoor had been greatly supported by the Torfwerk Schwegermoor. The authors especially thank Barbara Leuschner (DELAG, Dendrochronologisches Labor Göttingen), who kindly contributed the major part of the tree-ring measurements and of the intra-site synchronisation work. Special thanks are also due to Ute Sass-Klaassen and Mike Baillie for useful review comments and corrections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Dendroecology, Department of Palynology and Climate Dynamics, Albrecht-von-Haller Institute of Plant Science, University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

    Hanns Hubert Leuschner

  2. Lower Saxony State Service for Cultural Heritage, Hannover, Scharnhorststraße 1, 30175, Hannover, Germany

    Andreas Bauerochse & Alf Metzler

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  1. Hanns Hubert Leuschner
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  2. Andreas Bauerochse
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Correspondence to Hanns Hubert Leuschner.

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Communicated by F. Schlütz

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Leuschner, H.H., Bauerochse, A. & Metzler, A. Environmental change, bog history and human impact around 2900 b.c. in NW Germany–preliminary results from a dendroecological study of a sub-fossil pine woodland at Campemoor, Dümmer Basin. Veget Hist Archaeobot 16, 183–195 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-006-0084-4

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